What can Splatoon do to break Splatoon's problem with Splatfest in America?

[DekuKitty]

I feel like our issue is that NA has a statistically younger player base, with a lot more very young kids playing. (Not that all kids are bad at the game) Now I could spend hours theorizing why this is the case, but I won't bore you all. Tl;dr version is that because we have a younger playerbase, they all tend to flock to one side leaving all the experienced players to pick the other side and beat the snot out of them.

 

[The ΩS]

There's heavily a lot more kids playing in NA to the point it's going to affect popularity and win rate. It's just not that pronounced as EU/Japan due to cultural differences. But unless we do get close choice Splatfests like Art vs Science, that multiplier is really ruining the moral for this game. Either keep it as it is with an alternative to SSS or quitting will be the other option.

 

[Zero Revolution]

Perhaps if they simply removed the multipliers when the win ratio was much closer, and add them when one team had quite a bit more wins than the other, it would fix the issue. That way there is another determining factor if wins are really close, but if one team does perform much better than the other it won't be unfair to the team that did really well.

But otherwise I do think a x4 multiplier would be better and more even.

 

[SquiliamTentacles]

The thing is, even if the multipliers would change, inexperienced players would join one team while experienced players would join another. This happens more in North America because.

1. There is a statistically larger portion of younger players. Due to the relative wealth of the middle class, many young kids can just ask their parents to buy a WiiU and Splatoon for them.
2. The whole "videogames are for kids" stigma is more pronounced in NA (at least than in Japan). Older, more experienced gamers might just brush off Splatoon because it is "too childish"
3. Japan and Europe are more serious and focused, while NA is more laid-back. Kids are congratulated and encouraged even when they don't really do anything, causing the children to be lazier and less apt to work hard at something.

None of these are Nintendo's fault, it's just the cultural differences in NA. This, combined with the people who game the system, makes it near impossible to balance NA's splatfests. The only way to really fix it would be creating more balanced themes like Art vs Science, yet it would take tons of work and some luck for people to figure out balanced themes.

 

[redacteddd]

Japan did not need the multiplier to be increased. It wouldn't have changed the results of most of their previous Splatfests anyways.

Just because it wouldn't have changed their previous splatfests doesn't mean that the increase has affected how the Japanese playerbase handles these themes. As mechanical and unforgiving as people here perceive them, they have feelings too.

When Red Fox Udon vs. Green Tanuki Soba was re-held, Green Tanuki Soba, while being the less popular team, actually won this time.

 

[G1ng3rGar1]

Lowering the multiplier back to x4 won't fix everything(giving Marie themes that are more likely to win her a Splatfest would also help), although I think that would make choosing Splatfest themes more fun.

 

[PrinceOfKoopas]

Getting rid of the Popularity statistic wouldn't help, and it's also great statistics data on the player base!

 

[LimitCrown]

Just because it wouldn't have changed their previous splatfests doesn't mean that the increase has affected how the Japanese playerbase handles these themes. As mechanical and unforgiving as people here perceive them, they have feelings too.

When Red Fox Udon vs. Green Tanuki Soba was re-held, Green Tanuki Soba, while being the less popular team, actually won this time.

Do you think that Team Green Tanuki winning the second Splatfest was particularly a good thing? What realistic benefit did increasing the multiplier actually give to those in Japan who participated in the Splatfests?

 

[redacteddd]

Do you think that Team Green Tanuki winning the second Splatfest was particularly a good thing? What realistic benefit did increasing the multiplier actually give to those in Japan who participated in the Splatfests?

I was saying it was a good thing because players on that team probably felt less "cheated" out of a win the second time around.

Their trend is the exact opposite of ours. In every Splatfest so far in Japan except for two of the three that came after the multiplier was increased to x6, the more popular team won, even in the few cases they lost in wins. It makes things much less predictable than before.

 

[LimitCrown]

I was saying it was a good thing because players on that team probably felt less "cheated" out of a win the second time around.

Their trend is the exact opposite of ours. In every Splatfest so far in Japan except for two of the three that came after the multiplier was increased to x6, the more popular team won, even in the few cases they lost in wins. It makes things much less predictable than before.

In the couple of cases in which the teams that had more points overall were the ones with less wins, the popularity and win percentage differences were nearly the same. In the other cases that you describe, the teams that had more points had both more popularity and wins. Increasing the multiplier wouldn't have made things less predictable if situations like the latter continued.

 

[birdiebee]

True, but EU and Japanese Splatfest themes might not draw kids to one side as effectively. For example, if I were a kid and you asked me which flavor of ramen noodles I liked best, I'd probably just flip a coin. But every kid loves things like Autobots or ninjas. So the logic still applies elsewhere. . . it's just that sometimes neither team has more kids.

Nah man I dunno japanese people have pretty strong noodle allegiances, even kids.

 

[Pinko]

while EU keeps getting all the dumb ideas (North Pole vs. South Pole/Pro-Pineapple Pizza vs. Anti-Pineapple Pizza).

to be really honest, those are literally the only bad themes that have ever happened lol

 

[Flareth]

Is it such a bad thing that the Splatfest winner is determined by which team wins the most?

 

[Rellek]

There isn't any evidence to suggest that the result of the most popular team losing because people deliberately choose the other team is clearly a self-fulfilling prophecy. However, there is evidence to suggest that the 6x multiplier places too much emphasis on wins.

To be quite honest, imo, wins should be the ONLY deciding factor in splatfests. The popularity thing is just ridiculous and there to very subtly rub in our faces how stupidly biased we can be towards things like ninjas and pizza as well as how naively ignorant people can be to forms of transportation like trains. I was extremely disappointed in N. America for preferring planes 2 to 1.

For themes like hot dogs and marshmallows, it doesn't say much about people, but things like trains and planes... it says more than you think.

 

[Gameboy224]

Is it such a bad thing that the Splatfest winner is determined by which team wins the most?

If the teams were made to be even then it wouldn't, but they aren't so it doesn't work.

To be quite honest, imo, wins should be the ONLY deciding factor in splatfests. The popularity thing is just ridiculous and there to very subtly rub in our faces how stupidly biased we can be towards things like ninjas and pizza as well as how naively ignorant people can be to forms of transportation like trains. I was extremely disappointed in N. America for preferring planes 2 to 1.

For themes like hot dogs and marshmallows, it doesn't say much about people, but things like trains and planes... it says more than you think.

Also, it was Cars v Planes. Not trains, though I'd just point that out.

 

[Vitezen]

Getting rid of the Popularity statistic wouldn't help, and it's also great statistics data on the player base!

Giving the popularity statistic any weight whatsoever implies that it should be a factor in who wins the event. Because I believe it shouldn't be a factor, it should be given no weight in calculations. Displaying the statistic itself also leads to these situations, because people are clearly seeing how the less popular team consistently wins, and possibly continues the cycle. It would be much more difficult to know that for certain if players weren't told by the game.

 

[PrinceOfKoopas]

Giving the popularity statistic any weight whatsoever implies that it should be a factor in who wins the event. Because I believe it shouldn't be a factor, it should be given no weight in calculations. Displaying the statistic itself also leads to these situations, because people are clearly seeing how the less popular team consistently wins, and possibly continues the cycle. It would be much more difficult to know that for certain if players weren't told by the game.

That's an absurd argument.

If you take away showing the Popularity stat for the next Splatfest, it doesn't take away what people already know. Or instead of seeing it as "which will more people like" you'll see it as "which will kids be more likely to pick" which you can ask with or without the popularity statistic.

 

[Zombie Aladdin]

Maybe we can have exciting themes AND close matches.

Team Art vs. Team Science? Or is that never gonna happen again in our polarised world?

There are plenty of non-copyrighted, non-trademarked themes that have ardent supporters of roughly equal quantities among all age groups and are interesting. Here are a few I can think of that haven't been done as Splatfests:

Coffee vs. Tea
Chocolate vs. Vanilla
Urban vs. Rural
Travel to Another Place: State/Province vs. Country or Country vs. Continent
Science Fiction vs. Fantasy
Movies vs. Television
Fast Food vs. Family Food
Cooking: Done by Oneself vs. Done by Someone Else
Learn Many Languages vs. Master One Language
Comedy vs. Drama
Sweet Foods vs. Savory Foods
Taiyaki vs. Takoyaki (whoops, wrong region)

Then again, what do I know about good taste? I missed large parts of the Past vs. Future Splatfest to participate in a pinball competition.

I'd up for switching back to x4 wins multiplier to try to discourage people from picking sides based mostly on which side will be less popular.

Another option could be to adjust how popularity factors into the final result. One way to do that might be to have wins determine the base amount of points and then have the more popular team get some bonus points (equivalent to 2-5% or something) on top of that base value. Doing that would give people an incentive to be on the more popular team, but not such a huge one to encourage gaming the system, while also helping ensure that wins are the main thing that determine the results of a Splatfest.

That said, I'm not very confident that we'll see any changes to the Splatfest scoring formula so long as this remains an NA specific problem.

It's not. Japan has the same problem, just for the more popular team instead. Europe/Oceania is the only region to not yet have this problem.

nintendo is not to blame

everyone is under the impression that the less popular team will win (or the team with the least amount of 'kids')
so everyone half-decent and above chooses the "less popular team" and proceeds to beat up the other team of "kids" and those dumb enough to actually choose a side they support

self-fulfilling prophecy

Au contraire, I saw a lot of very good players in Team Future, enough so that I was convinced it was too close to call until towards the last few hours.

True, but EU and Japanese Splatfest themes might not draw kids to one side as effectively. For example, if I were a kid and you asked me which flavor of ramen noodles I liked best, I'd probably just flip a coin. But every kid loves things like Autobots or ninjas. So the logic still applies elsewhere. . . it's just that sometimes neither team has more kids.

Cultural differences here. Ramen is to Japan much like hamburgers are to the United States and Canada: It's something everybody eats who isn't a vegetarian, and it's THE Japanese fast food. Every street corner has a ramen shop, and competition is fierce. Childrenin Japan DO have favorite types of ramen, and among large companies, you can bet they'll have a favorite brand too.

Is it such a bad thing that the Splatfest winner is determined by which team wins the most?

As I don't use Super Sea Snails much, I personally don't care if I win or lose a Splatfest. What DOES annoy me is the predictability of the winner and how lopsided a Splatfest experience can be.

To be quite honest, imo, wins should be the ONLY deciding factor in splatfests. The popularity thing is just ridiculous and there to very subtly rub in our faces how stupidly biased we can be towards things like ninjas and pizza as well as how naively ignorant people can be to forms of transportation like trains. I was extremely disappointed in N. America for preferring planes 2 to 1.

For themes like hot dogs and marshmallows, it doesn't say much about people, but things like trains and planes... it says more than you think.

Planes are more exciting to kids than cars. There's a reason why a pilot is consistently in the top 10 dream jobs for children. Planes are also faster than cars. That's why most cross-country commuters will regularly take planes (and to a lesser extent, trains) rather than drive.

In particular, we live in a culture of speed. We want speedy service, speedy work, speedy computers, speedy cooking, and in this case, speedy travel. Americans hate waiting.

 

[BlackZero]

Is it such a bad thing that the Splatfest winner is determined by which team wins the most?

If there's a consistent trend of significant skill discrepancy between the two teams, I believe it is. If that wasn't an issue, I'd have no problems with wins. The difference is, one team has to work harder against the other, thus one win doesn't equal another. It's a bit like a college football team beating a professional football team and visa versa. One has a much tougher game to play than the other.

 

[PrinceOfKoopas]

There are plenty of non-copyrighted, non-trademarked themes that have ardent supporters of roughly equal quantities among all age groups and are interesting. Here are a few I can think of that haven't been done as Splatfests:

Coffee vs. Tea
Chocolate vs. Vanilla
Urban vs. Rural
Travel to Another Place: State/Province vs. Country or Country vs. Continent
Science Fiction vs. Fantasy
Movies vs. Television
Fast Food vs. Family Food
Cooking: Done by Oneself vs. Done by Someone Else
Learn Many Languages vs. Master One Language
Comedy vs. Drama
Sweet Foods vs. Savory Foods
Taiyaki vs. Takoyaki (whoops, wrong region)

Science Fiction vs. Fantasy is baaaasically Art vs. Science, though a lot of these are great. (Comedy vs. Drama! Though if Boke vs. Tsukkomi in Japan is any indication, Comedy will probably win.)